Thursday, July 7, 2011

One of the last magazine subscribers?




Ok, like most people these days I get much of my news and entertainment from the internet but I do hold a few coveted subscriptions to actual non virtual magazines, Sunset, Vanity Fair and Readymade to name a few. I keep those that I find most useful and recycle those that I've reread a few times. As an alternative I decided to give them a new life and inject them into a couple of projects.

After buying Mark Montano's "Big Ass Book of Craft" some time ago and seeing the bowls he made out of magazine pages, I had to try it. The process was a tad time consuming but it went by quickly with conversation. The gluing however was kind of a pain. It had been a while since I had used a hot glue gun. When all was said and done I had a cute little bowl to sit upon one of my desks to collect little doo-dads and such.
To make this bowl simply cut out pages of your favorite magazine and roll them (or tiny fold them) diagonally at the desired width and glue them together into one long continuous line. Taking a bowl (I used a metal one so that any errant glue would be easy to peel off) and a glue gun, wrap the long snake of rolled pages around in a coil, adding a bit of glue to keep it together as you go. When you are done and the glue has set, remove it from the bowl and spray with a clear protective urethane. I used Krylon.

The second and more favored of the projects was a storage box that I had picked up at Joanne's and covered with strips of pages. Modge Podge and a coat of polyurethane was all it took. Since both require drying time, this project took me most of an afternoon. I use it to store my woolen yarns and extra notions in the project room. So far it has withstood kid play, what more could I want?

To make this box, I simply took a wood box I had purchased from Joanne's and glued strips of pages with modge podge. I covered it with a few layers when the layout was finished and once it was all dried, painted it with a clear polyurethane and set it out to dry. I added a few additional coats to ensure it was sealed.

A friend of mine gave me a beautiful necklace made out of paper beads for my recent graduation. I love the necklace but lack the patience to make such tight, perfect beads.

What are your favorite projects made from recycled magazines? Post them in the comment section below.

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